Gender Differences in the Predictive Value of Obesity Indices for Insulin Resistance in Adult Mexican Individuals.

Background: Obesity-linked insulin resistance (IR) is an important risk factor for metabolic diseases, and anthropometric indices are commonly used for risk assessment.

Aim: The study aimed to assess possible differences between women and men in the predictive value and association of nine obesity indices with IR, as assessed by HOMA-IR, in a nondiabetic adult population.

Methods: The cross-sectional study included individuals recruited from a hospital in Mexico City. Indices evaluated were waist circumference (WC), hip circumference (HC), body mass index (BMI), waist-to-hip ratio, waist-to-height ratio, visceral adiposity index, body adiposity index (BAI), relative fat mass (RFM), and conicity index (CI). Fasting plasma glucose and insulin were measured to calculate HOMA-IR. Correlation analysis was performed between obesity indices and HOMA-IR. Receiver operating characteristics curve analyses were performed to determine predictive accuracy and cut-off values of obesity indices for IR. A binary logistic regression (BLR) analysis with OR calculation was performed to determine the strength of association with HOMA-IR.

Results: We included 378 individuals (59% females, mean age 46.38 ±12.25 years). The highest Pearson coefficient value was observed for BMI among women, while among men, the highest values were found for BMI and BAI. WC among women, and BAI and RFM among men showed the highest sensitivity, while the highest specificity was observed for WHR among women and WC among men with respect to insulin prediction. In the adjusted BLR model, BMI, WC, and WHR among women and WC and RFM and BAI among men were independently associated with IR, showing the highest odds ratio (OR).

Conclusion: In Mexican adults, WC, WHR, RFM and BAI could be complementary tools for BMI in screening for IR.